, i do. live in scotland with all the pomp, circumstance and ceremony as britain celebrates another royal newly wed couple. as britain celebrates another royal newly wed couple. today sunday, july 31, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a sunday. i'm lester holt. >> i'm jenna wolfe. we're just 48 hours from the point where the nation is unable to pay all of its bills and risk default but this morning some signs of progress. >> we have details of a possible detail coming out last night when harry reid said the two senates were trying to nail down loose ends and complete an agreement. >> we should stress, there is no deal quite yet. the situation is still quite fragile, but both sides are hoping to end this bittal debt limit showdown before the august tuesday.ine oncc1: >> the senate delayed its critical vote until 1:00 p.m. today amid growing indications that this compromise could be in the works that would avert a federal default tuesday. we have the story covered from capitol hill to the white house. we begin this mo

wedding. stephanie gosk is in edinburgh, scotland, with more. >> reporter: that's right, ann. this is the first royal wedding in scotland in 20 years. it's the queen's oldest granddaughter marrying mike tindell, the captain of england's rugby team. the ceremony is here tomorrow afternoon at that church behind me. any other year at any other time this would be the wedding of the year. but just three months ago, william and kate set the bar for that honor pretty high. dara phillips, prince william's first cousin, is tying the knot same year with their grandmother on the wedding list. but that is just about where the similarities end. nearly 2,000 guests packed into westminster abbey in london. there will be 400 in edinburgh. cam flas the abbey broadcast the wedding to billions around the world. here the doors are closed. instead of a crowd of over a million, there will be a modest 2,000. the marrow streets of the scottish capital can't handle much more than that. but you get the sense from phillip and her rugby star mark: tindell that is exactly how they want it. the couple has been

victims. just this morning another top scotland yard official was forced to call it quits. nbc's stephanie gosk is in london with an update. stephanie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lester. that makes two high-level officials at scotland yard resigning in less than 24 hours amidst allegations they mishandled the accusations into phone hacking. the police chief himself and his deputy resigning. the casualties in this scandal just continue to pile up. london's top cop resigned under pressure after they hired a media consultant in 2009. the former editor, neil wallace, was arrested for his connections with the phone hacking scandal last week. in stepping down, stevenson denied any wrongdoing. >> i have heard suggestions that we must have suspected the alleged involvement of mr. wallace's phone hacking. let me say unequivocally that i did not and had no reason to do so. >> reporter: stevenson says he quit because he's become a distraction for scotland yard, which has been criticized for its handling of the phone hacking investigation. among the accusations, their failure t

investigations. if "news of the world" bribed british police officers as scotland yard alleges, murdoch's company may have broken u.s. law. >> news corp is an american corporation and they are bound by american laws regardless of where the offense takes place. >> reporter: u.s. politicians are also latching on to an unconfirmed report from an unnamed source that "news of the world" hacked phones belonging to 9/11 victims. >> anyone who did this really forget the legality, just in terms of the morality of this is just beyond the pale. >> reporter: the 9/11 allegation appeared on sunday in light of congressional concerns, we called news international, the subsidiary and they told us they have seen no evidence that those allegations are true. >> stephanie gosk in london this morning. thanks as always. martin bashir, it's good to have you here. sometimes when i have you, i like to ask the simplest question first because i like your take. you spend a lot of time as a journalist in the u.k. and here in the united states. >> i worked for the sunday times between 1984 and 1985. >> as you've watch

used to obtain gordon brown's sons medical records. even so, scotland yard is investigating all of the accusations and is casting a wide net. pop singer george michael says he's being called in for questioning after a number of tweets he posted about rebecca brooks. he said in one of them that she told him that almost all of their information comes directly from police. in a later tweet he said that police received, quote, a nice little wad of cash for the service. ann? >> this story just keeps on growing. thank you so much. >>> 7:09. here's matt. >> ann, thanks very much. now to washington and the heat that president obama and congressional leaders are under to reach a deal on slashing the budget deficit. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house with the latest on this. good morning. good to see you. >> good morning. good to see you, too. president obama will meet with congressional leaders again today. the two sides still very much deadlocked. and the clock is ticking. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: with the deadline looming, president obama and congressional leaders met mond